I have always hated, HATED random encounters. Even in the new ones. That's one of the (legion of) reasons I think Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are so great, they lack random encounters. I think this is a great step in the right direction. The only thing I can see me not really liking is that the CPU will control most of the party members. But even that shouldn't be too bad as long as they throw in the option to change the AI settings on the CPU, like in Secret of Mana.